Proclaiming Freedom

I just released a new podcast Proclaiming Freedom (click this link to go listen). This was all the Lord’s idea. I never would’ve chosen to do a podcast….to me it just seems like adding to the already deafening noise of so many voices. God had to bring up the idea three times before I even considered it. Once I took a few moments to consider this idea from the God, I realized, it’s kinda perfect. I can just talk about all the things I’m on fire about! The Holy Spirit, missions, revelations from God…pretty much anything having to do with The Lord. My mind was going 1,000 miles per hour thinking of all the cool things I’d like to talk about.

I had to pause, though. What is it that God wants me to share? What is it that’s the most important to Him about this podcast idea?

My Testimony.

I’ve always felt such a strong desire to tell everyone about what God has done in my life. It’s miraculous. Done in an unconventional way, by my limited perspective. It’s a treasure I hold close to my heart. Hearkening back to it, so I’ll remember how good and how great my Father is to me. I knew I needed to share my testimony first and foremost on this podcast. It’s the foundation built on God, from which I advance through life in obedience.

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It’s extremely vulnerable to share this story of healing and deliverance, that God brought through a seemingly antithetical process. Especially when the noise of the world is desperately trying to drown out any voice telling of the glorious salvation in Christ. My testimony is a battle ax. I’ve added it to my Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). Every time I share my testimony, I’m destroying the strongholds of the enemy. I’m declaring to everyone, “God will save you and He will do amazing things in your life.” The enemy hates that. This is how warfare works against the principalities of darkness and evil (Ephesians 6:12)…Hope decimates deception, Joy annihilates depression and Love obliterates shame. Every testimony proclaims God’s compassion to save and His authority to liberate.

I encourage you to seek God to set you free and heal every wound. He promises to do this for you. And when He has, I urge you to be bold in sharing the testimony of Jesus Christ in your life.

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Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

    because the Lord has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

    to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

    and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

    instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

    instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

    instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

    a planting of the Lord

    for the display of his splendor.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins

    and restore the places long devastated;

they will renew the ruined cities

    that have been devastated for generations.

⁵ Strangers will shepherd your flocks;

    foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

⁶ And you will be called priests of the Lord,

    you will be named ministers of our God.

You will feed on the wealth of nations,

    and in their riches you will boast.

⁷ Instead of your shame

    you will receive a double portion,

and instead of disgrace

    you will rejoice in your inheritance.

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,

    and everlasting joy will be yours.

⁸ “For I, the Lord, love justice;

    I hate robbery and wrongdoing.

In my faithfulness I will reward my people

    and make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹ Their descendants will be known among the nations

    and their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will acknowledge

    that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”

¹⁰ I delight greatly in the Lord;

    my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation

    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the soil makes the sprout come up

    and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness

    and praise spring up before all nations.